Through Bosnian Eyes: The Political Memoir of a Bosnian Serb

Concurrent with the dawn of multiparty politics in 1990, Mirko Pejanovic emerged in Bosnia-Herzegovina as the leader of the Socialist Alliance. His organization was in charge of implementing policies of the League of Communists. This memoir, beginning in 1990, tells the story of his experiences as a public and political leader. Through Bosnian Eyes covers a decade of Pejanovic's service. His role in public life was characterized by an unwavering commitment to national equality and strong convictions regarding the nature of a multiethnic Bosnia-Herzegovina. As a participant in the most important political events of the time, and as a colleague of every major political leader, the author conveys a personal history that is memorable for its insights into the neglected world of Serbs who remained loyal to the nation in trying times.

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Page 2 - Republican particularism, albeit in the hands of the governing League of Communists, accelerated in the late 1980s with the growing prospect of democratic pluralism. Since a single nationality dominated in all republics but Bosnia-Herzegovina, nationalism often reinforced the autonomist ambitions of leaders in those republics. Prospects...

Page 19 - ... lead to the issue of whether national identity should be focused on or avoided. 7 Discussion about the issues described here consumed the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina throughout June and July 1990. The final package of acts and Constitutional amendments was enacted on July 31, 1990. 8 The 1974 Constitution of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina incorporated the socialist-era notion of "constituent nations," each of which enjoyed specific rights of cultural development, political representation,...

Page 2 - The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a socialist democratic state and socialist self-administered democratic community of working peoples and citizens, nations of Bosnia-Herzegovina— Muslims, Serbs, and Croats, and members of other nations and nationalities living therein.

Page ix - Mirko Pejanovic is not the kind of Bosnian that most of us have come to know through media reports. Those narratives left us with the sense that every Bosnian is either a victim to be pitied or a war criminal hardened to indifference by unfathomable brutality. Pejanovic was neither of these. He formed no paramilitary group, organized no concentration camps, and ravaged no civilian populations. He neither gave riveting interviews to international journalists nor struck photogenic poses while toting...

About the author (2004)

Mirko Pejanovic was born and raised in the Bosnian town of Matijevici. He graduated from and became a professor of Political Science at the University of Sarajevo. In March of 1990, he was elected president of the Socialist Alliance for Bosnia-Herzegovina. He has published more than 150 professional works and holds the position of president of the Serb Civil Council for the Movement of Equality.